Analyzing Hip Hop: Culture, Evolution, and Contemporary Relevance

This essay provides an overview of hip hop music, highlighting its key characteristics, origins, and evolution. It traces the genre's roots in African American culture, noting its initial purpose as a voice for marginalized communities. The essay discusses the shift from addressing social grievances to incorporating themes of success and materialism in modern hip hop. It also addresses concerns about the commercialization of the genre and its potential impact on its original intent, while emphasizing the need for contemporary artists to address relevant issues to maintain the music's viability. The essay concludes by reiterating the defining features of hip hop and its ongoing cultural significance.

Running head: HIP HOP
Hip Hop
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Hip Hop
Hip hop which is also referred rap is characterized by word that are presented in a
rather quick/rapid way (Bradley, 2017). In addition to this, the words follow a rhyming
pattern. These are the two most important characteristics that distinguish hip hop from other
genres of music. It is mainly viewed as music of the African American culture. This is mainly
because the origin of the music could be traced back to African Americans. Today however,
the music has been adopted by many more cultures and customized to fit the culture/ethnic
group in question. Despite this, the two characteristics mentioned above have been
maintained by all hip-hop musicians. Examples of hip-hop musicians are Drake, Nicki Minaj,
Jay Z and 50 Cent.
To an observer, hip-hop music seems to involve a young black person (s) who tends
to possess one or more of the following characteristics: rebellion against the
government/authorities, break dance, some graffiti walls and beat box (this refers to making
sounds like those made by the drum but using the mouth). It is true that some of the pop
musicians may exhibit the characteristics mentioned above. However, there is a deeper and
another side of hip-hop music that is more meaningful and that intends to put across
important messages.
Most people who love hip hop subculture and who could be viewed as being part of
the music, are of the school of thought that the music represents the many struggles faced by
black youth living in United States. The youths mainly represented here are those that live in
the urban areas. In addition to airing the struggles, the music also represents the slow but sure
achievements that the youth continually make (Potter, 2017). The early music mainly focused
on issues such as drugs, crime and challenges faced in the city. Modern hip hop however has
evolved to include other issues such as love, happiness and success (Pough, 2015).

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Let us look briefly at the origin of hip hop. The hip hop subculture originated among
the black Americans particularly the younger generation (Morgan, 2017). The main drive
toward establishment of the music genre was discrimination and marginalization (Schloss,
2014). The mainstream music was mainly done by the white Americans. In the music, the
white Americans would mainly focus on the issues affecting them. At that time, there was
widespread racism and discrimination against the blacks. They were treated like second class
citizens. One could even say that they were treated like children of a lesser God. It is this
anguish that drove the black American to air their grievances through hip hop music. It soon
grew to become the main way that the black Americans used to let out their feelings and
grievances.
Although, the genre is more widespread and enjoys universal success in the
contemporary society, the original supporters argue that the commercialization of the music
has done more harm than good (Haupt, Williams and Alim, 2018). The argument made by
these supporters is that the modern musicians has included certain undesirable items in the
music for their own benefit often motivated by greed. For instance, it is common for hip hop
musicians to praise abuse of drugs, misogyny, violence and affiliation with certain gangs that
are known not for the good reasons. As seen in the above discussion, the main aim for the
introduction of the music was to air the voice of the suffering black Americans. In the
contemporary society, the main motivation of the artists seems to be affluence, fame and
crude accumulation of wealth. The mainstream artists continue to condemn the materialistic
nature of modern hip hop artists with some like Nas arguing that ‘hip hop is dead’.
Even though many modern artists have veered from the original intent of the music,
there are still some who use the music as a platform of doing good, for instance propagating
and promoting peace. However, if the music is to remain viable in the contemporary society,

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then the modern musicians need to be less materialistic and focus more on other important
issues. If that does not happen, the music may slowly loose meaning and fade away.
In conclusion, hip hop music is characterized by words that are presented in a quick
succession and following a rhyming pattern. These are the two main characteristics of hip-
hop music. Despite the origin of the music being among the African American youths, it has
widely spread to other cultures. The original intent was to air the grievances of black
American youths. Today however, the music has evolved to include other topics such as
success, happiness and politics.

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References
Bradley, A. (2017). Book of rhymes: The poetics of hip hop. Civitas Books.
Haupt, A., Williams, Q. E., & Alim, H. S. (2018). Introduction:" It's Bigger than Hip Hop".
Morgan, J. (2017). When chicken heads come home to roost: A hip-hop feminist breaks it
down. Simon and Schuster.
Potter, R. A. (2017). The future is history: hip-hop in the aftermath of (post) modernity. In
the Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest (pp. 89-98). Routledge.
Pough, G. D. (2015). Check it while I wreck it: Black womanhood, hip-hop culture, and the
public sphere. North-eastern University Press.
Schloss, J. G. (2014). Making beats: The art of sample-based hip-hop. Wesleyan University
Press.